Researchers identify ocean clam as the oldest living animal after killing it

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Life in the animal kingdom can be nasty, brutish, and short. Well, unless you happen to be an ocean quahog, a species of edible clam native to the North Atlantic Ocean. These mollusks can live to be centuries old, and scientists have recently identified one of these creatures as the oldest animal ever discovered. The only problem, they only figured that out after killing it. Whoops.

The clam was dredged from the ocean floor by researchers in 2006, and as was common practice, was put in deep freeze to be examined later. The ocean quahog can live to be truly ancient because it’s habitat is always protected by seawater, unlike some other clam species that occupy areas that are uncovered at low tide. Because they live for so long, scientists can learn about the climate of the past by studying these organisms.

Each season an ocean quahog lives, it adds one layer to its shell. When harvested, the number of layers can be counted like the rings in a tree. Initial examinations of this particular clam found that it was 400 years old, so it was named Ming after the Chinese dynasty in power when it was born. However, a more recent examination has shown Ming to be much older — 507 years old, to be exact.

The problem was that Ming was so old that some layers of shell had compressed to the point they were not visible in the earlier analysis. Researchers are now confident they have the right number. That means old Ming was spawned in 1499 when America had only just been rediscovered by Columbus and Leonardo da Vinci wouldn’t start on the Mona Lisa for a few more years.

Yes, Ming did live through a lot, although he was buried in sand for all of it. If it’s any consolation, there are probably still older clams out there beneath the waves.